Sudden Devotion (10 page)

Mitch looked at Sara, horror etched on his face. Sara’s face was filled with hurt and tears were building in her eyes. “Sara.” Mitch pushed Claudia off of him. “Wait.”

Sara ran to her desk in an attempt to grab her purse before Mitch caught up with her. One of the secretaries saw her crying and out of concern, asked her what was wrong. “Family emergency,” was the lie she chose. “Please tell the partners for me. I have to leave. It can’t be helped.” She yelled it as she ran out the door and headed for the elevators with tears streaming down her face.

Mitch rounded the corner just in time to see her walk out the door. Running out after her, he stuck his hand in the elevator in time to trigger the sensor, causing the doors to open back up.

“Mitch, please leave me alone,” Sara pleaded with him as he entered and the doors shut.

The doors closed behind him, cutting them off from the rest of the office. “No. Not until you let me explain.”

She laughed at his request, hoping it would help hide her heartache. “No, that’s okay. I think I’ve got the picture. Look, it’s only been a couple of days. It’s not like we had a commitment or something. You never promised me anything.” Her bottom lip was trembling. She was so angry with herself for falling for him so fast. What’s more, she was even angrier for falling into his bed even faster.

“I never promised you
anything
?” Mitch turned around and slammed his fist against the emergency stop button. “I did promise you something, damn it. I promised you the same thing I made you promise me. Rule number one, remember!”

He came to her and framed her face in his hands. “Baby, Sara, listen to me, please.”

She pushed him away in an attempt to restart the elevator. He grabbed her too quickly though and pinned her into the corner. Placing both hands on either side of her shoulders, he spoke with complete vehemence, “Neither one of us is leaving this elevator until you hear me out.”

Knowing he wouldn’t let her go unless she did listen, she agreed. “Fine. Explain it. But I warn you. I don’t want to hear it. It’s not going to make a difference. I’m not like Claudia, all right? I’m inexperienced, and I don’t take sex casually. I…”

“Damn it, Sara. Just shut the hell up for a Goddamn minute already!” He leaned in and kissed her with ferocity. He was angry at her for not listening. He was scared he might lose her. And to make matters worse she was making him horny as hell just by her being her. He cursed when she drew away from the kiss and resisted him.

Trying to calm his nerves, he took a few deep breathes before he spoke. “Sara. There is absolutely nothing going on with me and Claudia. There never has been, and there never will be. She came on to me. It wasn’t the first time, either.” He looked into her eyes more intently once he realized that he had her attention. “I wasn’t even paying attention when it happened. My mind kept wandering back to you. To what was wrong with you. I kept thinking of the tears that I saw in your eyes. I was so worried about you, honey.”

He framed her face in his hands and held her closer. When she didn’t resist him, he continued, “I was looking down at my floor. Remembering the first time we were together.” He nuzzled her neck. “Remembering how beautiful you looked.” He was streaming kisses across her face and down her neck. “Sara, I would never cheat on you. I meant it when I said that as long as we were together, there was only you.”

“No, Mitch.” She pulled away. “She tried to tell me all right. Look, maybe she just didn’t want to share you anymore. I don’t know. But, I can’t do this. I thought I was mature enough to handle this kind of casual relationship based on nothing more than sex. I’m not though. I’m not mature or worldly or sophisticated. I can’t be with you if I’m not enough to stop you from being with others. I won’t make things difficult for you at work. Let’s just forget about the past couple of days, okay? It’ll be like nothing happened.”

Mitch listened to her incessant rambling as he could feel his anger about to boil over. “What in the hell are you taking about? First of all, what did she try to tell you? Second of all, our relationship is based on a lot more than fucking sex. And quite frankly, it pisses me off to hear you say that. Third of all,” he was now using his fingers to tick off each point, “you are more mature, and quite honestly, more wonderful than most women I meet who are years older than you. Fourth of all, I haven’t wanted anyone else since you took over my thoughts and began to drive me crazy with this urgent need to have you.”

He rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. “And there is no way in hell that I could possibly forget about the past couple of days. So if you end things with us, the issue won’t be whether or not you make things difficult for me. It will be how difficult I will make it for you. Because so help me God, Sara, if you end this between us, I will not stop until I get you back.”

Sara listened to his words. Her heart ached with every word he said. She wanted to believe him so badly. If she had been writing a script for what she had needed him to say, she couldn’t have written it better. “Then why did she tell me…why did she want me to think that the person I was with was ashamed of me?” she asked him, praying he knew the right words to take the pain away.

“What?” Mitch asked her confused. “What exactly did she tell you?”

“She told me that she hated me. She said I thought I was better than her, and that I probably couldn’t keep a man happy. That if I had one that he would only…” She looked down. What if what Claudia had said were true? Could she handle that? At the gentle touch of Mitch’s hands, she raised her face to him. “She said that if anyone ever fucked me, it would be out of pity, and that they would be so ashamed of me that they would ask to keep the relationship a secret.”

Mitch closed his eyes and held her. “Sara. You know that’s not true.” When she didn’t answer him, he held her tighter. “Honey, you have to believe me. It’s not true. I could never be ashamed of you. And I won’t even grant credence to that other accusation with a response. God, I wish I knew what to do to make you see how amazing you are. How I see you. I wish I could explain to you how you make me feel.” He drew her away and looked deep into the depths of her eyes. “You know why she did this, don’t you?”

Sara shook her head as he held it in his large hands. “No.”

He grinned. She really was naïve about some things. “Honey, she’s obviously figured out about us. Think about it. She’s been hitting on me since I got here, and you and I’ve had sex twice in my office. She might have heard us. I think she’s just a spiteful bitch who’s angry that she didn’t get her way.” He brushed his thumbs against her cheeks. “I shouldn’t repeat this, but she’s slept with a lot of the men at the firm. Even some of the married ones, if the talk in the proverbial boys’ room is to be believed.” He shrugged. “I was probably going to be her latest conquest, and she’s just pissed because I want you instead.”

Seemingly breathless and full of panic she asked him, “You don’t want to be with her then?”

Mitch smiled, glad he was finally getting through to her. “No one. I don’t want to be with anyone else. Just you. Look, honey, I need to be honest with you. There’s something happening here with me that I’ve never felt before, so it’s a little confusing for me. But when I thought I might lose you, there was a horrible pain right here.” He thumped his fist on his chest. “I’ve never chased after any woman in my entire life.” He kissed her now, needing to show her as much as tell her.

Moments later, they heard a voice come over the intercom of the elevator announcing that the manual override would be complete in two minutes and they would be on their way again. They laughed at the announcement. The idea that as they had intentionally locked themselves in here while someone was trying to fix the problem as though the faulty was elevator was too funny.

“Mitch, I’m sorry.” She put her arms around him, holding on tightly.

He clenched his eyes tight and held onto her, not willing to give into the emotions that were swarming over him. “It’s okay, honey. I know it looked bad when you walked in. Just don’t walk away from me again, okay?”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I should have listened to you and let you explain.” The elevator started to move. He walked out with her and draped an arm around her.

Sara turned to him, “Mitch, someone might see us.”

“I don’t care. I thought I did. But when you ran out on me, I realized I didn’t give a damn who knew. You’re more important than some stupid rule that only applied to my past relationships. It’s different with you.” He hugged her closer to his body as he walked outside with her.

“Mitch, where are we going? I can’t go back in now, but don’t you have work to…” She was silenced with a kiss as they stood on the sidewalk outside of their building.

“We’re going home. I’ll call them from the car. I’m playing hooky for the rest of the day with my girlfriend.” He walked her to her car first and held her door open for her. Leaning in, he said, “I’ll see you at your place. Think about where you want to go to dinner tonight. Anywhere you want, okay?”

Sara whimpered. “Mitch, no.” She reached for her keys and took a key off the ring. “Take this. I’ll meet you there later. I want to pick up a few things at the store.”

“Sara, I can go…”

“No, Mitch, please let me do this. I want to cook you dinner tonight. Let’s not go anywhere, okay? Let’s just stay in and be alone.” She sniffled from the remnants of her crying.

“Sure, honey. Whatever you say. I’ll see you there.” He leaned in and kissed her before closing her door.

He waved her off and headed to his car. The gigantic ball of misery that had been in his gut for the past hour had suddenly evaporated. It was stupid to try to deny it any longer. He was falling in love with her. He was a thirty-year-old, self-proclaimed bachelor for life, who had fallen completely in love with a twenty-three-year-old secretary in the matter of two days. He should probably be mourning his bachelorhood, he thought. But he had absolutely no remorse for the loss of it. If this was love, then he was one lucky son of a bitch!

Chapter Eight

Riding up in the elevator the next morning, Mitch tried to reassure Sara. “I don’t want you to worry about her. Claudia is just a poor excuse for a lady. She didn’t get her way, so she had no recourse but to be nasty.” Wrapping his arms around her, he reiterated what he had told her a dozen times the night before. “If she tries to bait you, I want you to ignore her. Okay, honey?”

“Mitch, I said I’d be fine, and I will. I realize now that I overreacted to what she said. However,” she clarified, “if I walk in on you and her like that again, you better be very, very afraid because Claudia will not be who I’ll be focusing my anger on.” She gave him a quick kiss before the elevator doors opened.

Mitch opened the door to the office and held it for Sara. Once they were both inside, they saw Claudia standing there talking to Larry. The icy stare that she threw their way left no doubt how she felt about Sara.

Surprising Mitch , Sara walked past her and said, “Good morning, Claudia. It’s a lovely day, don’t you think?” She didn’t wait for a response. She just continued on to her desk.

Mitch gave Sara a wink and a smile before he headed back to his office. He turned on his computer and waited for it to boot up. While he was going through the paperwork that he had abandoned the day before, he thought of Sara.

He had to shake his head and laugh. He was a man obsessed. She had made a simple dinner the night before. She broiled some fish, made some wild rice, and steamed some asparagus. They watched T.V. before going to bed, and once again, she fell asleep in his arms.

Of course, that was after they had completely burned up the sheets. But it seemed perfect. After only a couple of days, Sara had managed to fit into his life like they were the only two puzzle pieces that fit together.

His computer beeped, signifying that it was up and running. He ran through his emails before returning any necessary phone calls. After reading the first two, it was obvious that he was going to have to work late. The work he had missed the day before would not be without a price. The
Jennings
case was set to go to Arbitration next week. He had two depositions to prepare for the following week. And not to mention a brief that he was behind on.

Normally, he would stay late everyday to avoid getting behind like this. But the past few days, his main focus had been on spending time with Sara. No matter how much he hated the idea, he would have to spend more time working and less time having the most amazing sex. The world seemed suddenly very unfair.

Mitch opened a new email and began to type.

Sara,

I just checked my work load for

the day. I’m way behind on

quite a few things. I’m going

to have to work late tonight.

Just wanted to give you a

heads up.

Mitch

He hit send on the email, and for the first time in his life, hated the fact that he had a solid and stable career. Sara made him so horny all the time, he was like an eighteen-year-old boy. Hating the fact that he would be spending his evening with briefs instead of her, he decided there would be one way to make sure that he didn’t drift far from her mind.